Went to the range today to fire the rounds I loaded up a couple weeks back.  Lots of smoke when I was firing.  I'm using 4.6 grains of Titegroup pushing 230gr RN.  What causes all of the smoke?  Is it my powder?  Should I change?  I remember when I was reloading 7-8 years ago that my rounds were also smoky.

What am I doing wrong?  Or is this normal?

  I don't know dad's combo, but his loads look like black powder.    I think he uses titegroup, and almost all non-jacketed bullets as well. 

Lead slugs, fast powders, and light charges add up to smoky loads.  You have 2 things going on here that give you grief simultaneously:

1.  Light charge= low pressure= incomplete powder combustion= smoke(just like a campfire that's not burning optimally for instance)
2.  Low pressure= no bullet base obturation= bore not sealed= gas bypass= lead and lube smoke.

It's normal for what you're doing.  Though you might try universal or unique powder next go round.  Universal's my favorite for mouse fart loads, I've found it less smoky at low pressures than most other powders.

No, you're not, you may just have one of those guns that "shoots fast".  Rugers are known to do that, where as S&W handguns are known to shoot a tad "slow" vs. published data.  Not saying one's better than the other, just noting something is all.  Now then:

According to Hodgdon's website that I just looked at, that load is squarely in the middle:  4.4 grains under a 230 = 744fps@15,000 CUP, and 4.8 grains = 818fps@16,700CUP.  The key to our discussion here is the term "relative":

   At peak pressures, the 45 ACP is a relatively low pressure round all things considered.  Commercial cast slugs are usually cast from relatively hard alloys. This usually = No slug base obturation at low pressures. Add that to mis-sized slugs(usually undersized), and commercial lubes that are designed more to survive shipping under adverse conditions than actually serve as a lube, and you get smoky loads.

One thing I've noticed about lead vs plated/jacketed (I think this has been covered before, maybe in my own thread) is that lead goes way faster than jacketed.

I loaded some 9mm 115gr lead at the starting load for 115 jacketed. They didn't stabilize. So I added a few tenths of a grain of powder. I got high pressure signs. The low end of powder got them going fast, and more powder was high pressure.

This was at the starting load for Jacketed bullets.

Holy crap!  I was just wiping down my pistol in advance of tomorrow's match and I looked inside my barrel - it's never leaded like this before. But it was really bad. I scrubbed it as good as I could in the time I had, I'll deal with it more tomorrow afternoon.

I've done a similar load before and not had this problem. I remember something about barrel leading being less with either hotter or milder loads - which one is it?  Any ideas?

Bill

So how can you tell if your round has stabilized?  Is this something you have to do with precision shooting?

Panhead Bill, a suggestion:

Clean your barrel thoroughly, alternating between copper and lead/powder solvents.  Go by the directions on the bottle to the letter with the copper solvent you choose, they can be rough on barrels if mis-used.  I think you'll find more stuff in your barrel than your naked eye would have you believe.  Is your crown in good shape? Also-

Check a slug(hopefully you have some left that aren't loaded still) for proper diameter.

Steve-  It's pretty obvious if they don't stabalize, you usually get a shotgun pattern(or wider) of weird shaped holes in your target.

Oh yes it can Steve.  I had a 44 magnum load doing it to me at 15 feet on one occasion.  Like I said, you'll know it if it happens- The holes in the target will be odd shaped and very random.  It will be a shotgun pattern, not a group of any sort.

Could that be an effect of the leading, and shooting the jacketed rounds cleaned the bore out enough to correct it?

Most likely. Shooting jacketed strips a lot of leading out with it. I'm sorry you guys are having leading issues - it does happen sometimes when the bullet diameter and/or bullet hardness aren't right. It gives lead a bad name, but in fairness it would be like shooting the cheapest fmj ball that wasn't accurate and thinking all jacketed ammo was similar.

I've loaded LRN, plated, and jacketed and I will say that lead will make a mess with higher pressure and/or higher velocities.  Most of my pistol loading has been for the Super .38 and it can lead bad unless I load down to .38 ACP levels and is always smokier.

Unique is the one powder I've really seen a difference in the burning between low and high pressure.  In my not quite max super loads it is wonderfully clean, but if I down-load it to a start charge it is a bit dirty.  .38 spcl loads can be down right filthy.

Steve, if you don't already have it, don't go buy Unique.  Yes, it's an Alliant powder, btw.  Go with the Clays powder instead.  It is MUCH cleaner at low pressure.

If you're going to push lead projectiles hard, invest in some gas checks.